


The Curious Cabinet of Mr. Calimari

by FleetSparrow



Series: Drawlloween 2018 [28]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-09 03:53:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16442489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FleetSparrow/pseuds/FleetSparrow
Summary: Dick takes Damian to a curiosities trailer and gets hypnotized by one of the curios.  It's up to Damian to save him.





	The Curious Cabinet of Mr. Calimari

The line for the curiosities trailer was long, wrapping around towards the exit. Dick bobbed happily on the balls of his feet, counting how many people were in front of them.

“Grayson, I know you have an affinity for sideshows, but this one seems strange, even for you.”

“Halloween sideshows are the best,” Dick said, ruffling Damian’s hair. “Besides, it gets you out of the house for a while.” Damian had been antagonizing everyone that morning, until Bruce finally told Dick to take him out and cheer him up.

“Halloween is a time for vigilance, not sight-seeing.”

“Oh, shush. You’ll enjoy this.”

The line moved quickly and soon they were up at the trailer.

“Now, you might see some pretty weird things, so don’t be alarmed,” Dick said.

“Yes, Grayson, I’ll hold your hand when you get scared.”

“Atta boy.”

They climbed the steps into the trailer and soon they were enveloped in darkness. As their eyes adjusted, they began to see lighted jars and tubes full of things suspended in liquid. They moved closer. Each jar contained some kind of octopus-like creature, floating peacefully. They peered close to one of them and its eye opened, staring straight at Dick.

Dick stared back at the creature, his eyes losing focus. Damian, being lower to the ground and therefore not directly in the creature’s line of sight, stared up at Dick.

“Grayson.”

Dick kept staring, nodding every once in a while.

“Grayson!”

Damian tugged on his shirt to no avail. Frustrated, Damian stretched up his arm and covered Dick’s eyes. Immediately, Dick stood straight, blinking fast.

“Damian? What is it?”

“You were staring at that thing. It was hypnotizing you.”

“It’s just a little octopus,” Dick said. The thing had closed its eye again.

“I think it’s an alien and it was trying to take over your consciousness,” Damian said.

Dick laughed. “Don’t be silly, Damian. I think Halloween’s starting to go to your head.”

Damian frowned. “Grayson, I saw it hypnotizing you!”

“Sure, Damian.”

They walked through the rest of the trailer without incident.

“Did you enjoy my curiosities?” an old man at the door asked.

“Yes, they were very interesting,” Dick said.

Damian glared suspiciously at the old man.

“Please, come again,” the old man said, bowing them out.

Damian hung back and looked up at the old man. “I’m watching you,” he said.

The old man’s stare hardened, but Damian matched it.

“I’m watching you,” he repeated, before exiting the trailer.

It was late that night, after patrol, when Damian woke up again. He had been hiding in Dick’s room, still dressed in his Robin suit, watching him in case he should rise again. This time, he had.

Damian followed Dick out of the manor and out into Gotham. He knew where Dick was heading. Back to the trailer. Back to that thing.

Damian hid on top of the trailer and listened as the old man opened the door for Dick.

“I knew you’d be coming back. They always do.”

Damian eased up the skylight of the trailer to listen further.

“You will bring a pretty penny for me. Bruce Wayne will pay a fortune for his first son. But he won’t get you back unscathed. I’ll make you do all my bidding and then, when the time comes, I’ll release you. You won’t be able to handle the things I’ll make you do.”

Damian had heard enough.

“That’s what you think,” he said, leaping down through the skylight.

The old man jumped back. “You! You’ll never be able to defeat me. Grayson! Attack him!”

Dick turned around and squared off at Damian.

“I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to,” Damian said.

Dick’s eyes were bright as he faced off against Damian. He grinned, and motioned for Damian to come at him. Damian nodded. He ran at Dick and leapt up. Dick cupped his hands and caught Damian’s foot, launching Damian over his head and at the old man. Damian landed bodily on him, knocking him to the ground.

“Who are you?” Damian asked in his best Batman voice.

“How could my hypnotism fail?” the old man said. “You should have been toast!”

“Not this time,” Dick said, standing over him. “It was clever, using the aliens as your cover, but in that body, you’re just too weak, Brainiac.”

The old man’s eyes glowed green. “You Bats will pay for this.” The old man shuddered and fell limp. Damian climbed off of him.

“How did you break the hypnotism?” he asked Dick.

“It was partly thanks to you, Little D,” Dick said. “You broke me out of it before it could fully take hold. Then I had B rehypnotize me to keep me out of it.”

Dick pulled out his comm. “Superman? Nightwing. We’ve got some alien lifeforms that need homes. Thanks.”

They helped the old man off the floor and woke him up.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in Gotham.”

“What am I doing there? I was supposed to be in Pittsburgh.” He looked around the trailer. “What happened to my curios?”

“They were changed out for aliens. Don’t worry, we’ll get your things back.”

“Oh, thank you, young man.”

Dick helped him settle in while Damian went searching in the trailer’s cabinets, looking for the old man’s curios. Inside were all kinds of old fashioned curiosities: mermaid mummies, two-headed monkey skeletons, a carefully preserved lamb with two faces. He pressed his lips together as he pulled out the old man’s stuff.

Superman arrived, along with a basket to carry the aliens back to the Fortress of Solitude, where he’d try to find their planets and send them home.

“Be careful with that one,” Dick said, pointing to the one that had hypnotized him. “Don’t look it in the eye.”

“I’ll be careful,” Superman said.

The old man waved to Superman as he flew away, looking much better from his ordeal now that his old things were back where they belonged.

“Thank you boys, again,” he said. “And if there’s anything I can ever do….”

“Just stay well,” Dick said. “And don’t pick up any living curios.”

“Oh, heavens, no. I won’t do that again.” He locked up the trailer and headed to his car. “See you boys the next time I’m in Gotham.”

“Good luck, sir,” Dick called. They watched him drive off with his trailer full of stuff.

“Well, want to get some breakfast, Robin?”

Damian looked down at his suit. “Someone will notice me.”

Dick shrugged. “It’s almost Halloween. You’re just trying out your costume.”

Damian nodded. “Very well, Grayson. Breakfast is your treat.”

“Atta boy, Robin.”


End file.
